French parliamentary deputies have voted in favor of legislation that would see execs from private companies jailed for refusal to hand over encrypted data to investigators, reports the Guardian. While no direct reference was made to the Apple/FBI battle, it is clear that this was behind the proposal.

The controversial amendment, drafted by the rightwing opposition, stipulates that a private company which refuses to hand over encrypted data to an investigating authority would face up to five years in jail and a €350,000 (£270,000) fine.

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The vote took place in France’s lower parliament on an amendment to a penal reform bill. The government does not favor the amendment, and the bill itself has two more hurdles to pass before it would become law, with subsequent votes in both the National Assembly and Senate.

Numerous tech companies and others have weighed-in on Apple’s side in the past few days, filing amicus briefs with the court in support of Apple’s stance. While the issue continues to work its way through the courts, the recent Congressional hearing makes it look increasingly likely that the issue will eventually be decided by Congress.

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About the Author

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels published to date, and an SF novella series coming in March 2017.

Absolutely bullshit! Its ok for them to snoop around our phones etc. But if any hacker did that to anyone working for the government would be landing themselves a prison sentence! If You want to look inside our data, we want to look inside yours!

Apple handed over all the data they had. This is not the same as conscripting a private company to create a backdoor or forcing the removal of encryption from an OS. There are grandstanding politicians in the EU apparently, just like in the US. What a surprise… /s

There is a certain amount of irony in Luxembourg not actually having an Apple store because Apple routes two thirds of it’s non-US online sales ( movies and music ) through a company called iTunes Sàrl, which is based in Luxembourg and enjoys amazingly low rates of sales tax. It’s one of the tactics being investigated by the European Union with regard to tax evasion by international companies.

In 2013, Apple apparently paid just €20 million in taxes, despite making €2.05 billion in iTunes sales that year.

I will never understand why it’s called “tax evasion”. No one is evading anything; all large companies are looking for maximising profit, and rightfully so. Especially when said company is a publicly trading one, like Apple. These laws exist, right or wrong, and are being used to their full potential. If any government has an issue with it, they should change their law accordingly. So far I haven’t seen any of that, so who is the bigger winner here: companies making use of lawful practises or government enjoying the money trafficking large companies are exploiting?

In short, there is nothing wrong by doing things by the book. Something many governments could learn from, but I digress.

Hehe ther’s no offical Apple store just one dealer which does that for Apple.

As for encryption we will have our LuxVirus too. Allowing for the government to invade your computer at any time.
All this government vs encryption is a complete mess and BS.
With all the surveillance of the secret services worldwide and companies, I wonder if there is enough information to collect, as with the terrabytes of useless data, no one is checking or understanding what’s going on.
Not one of all the bigger terrorists attacks has been avoided. Because these data collecters leave the decision to an AI computer.

As I understand it, this requirement is that the encrypted data is handed over. Unless the French government have some way to unencrypted the data, I can’t see it being much use to them.

The more significant aspect is how that law deals with a phone lock that the manufacturer cannot over-ride? If the manufacturer cannot access that data, how can they be expected to comply with that law? The only way that I can see Apple being able to deal with situations like this would be if there were a way for Apple to trigger a special iCloud backup, the contents of which would be made available to the authorities if an appropriate warrant were issued.

“French parliamentary deputies have voted in favor of legislation that would see execs from private companies jailed for refusal to hand over encrypted data to investigators…”

This is fine. All anyone has to do to hand over the encrypted data is disassemble the device, remove the flash and hand it over. It’s up to the law enforcement authorities to figure out a way to de-crypt it.

So, who exactly ‘owns’ the data on the phone. If I take a photo, write an email, add a calendar entry, surely that’s MY data, and where do I give ANYONE (including Apple) the right to pass on MY data to a 3rd party?

So if I do own MY data, could I sue (say) Apple for ‘hacking’ my data repository?

It’s nothing new that a government agency can seek a lawful order from a court to force third parties to hand over information. Just like your bank can be ordered by a court to provide your account information. The third party aspect isn’t even really relevant. A court can order YOU to hand over the information.

In the SB case, Apple isn’t arguing they aren’t obligated to turn over any data under their control. They’re arguing that they cannot be compelled to write a modified version of iOS and install it on the phone at issue.

This proposed French law does exactly what many on the pro-Apple side of the SB case are arguing. If one government adopts a rule forcing Apple or other companies to provide a way to bypass encryption, then all other governments will do the same. The reason it hasn’t happened so far is that no government appears to want to be the first. That’s why China backed down last year on exactly the same type of law.

Doubtful. Apple already complies when a government asks them for information.

The SB case is about a totally different issue; Apple is being asked to create a new version of iOS (dubbed GovtOS) that doesn’t have delays or auto erase features when an incorrect passcode is entered too many times.

Besides that, Apple already complies with valid/lawful warrants and will hand over iCloud data. That’s not going to change when the encryption does. The encrypted data will be however useless to investigators.

Let your voice be heard regarding this craziness. Encourage companies such as Apple to increase encryption and security on all our devices. Protect us from criminals/hackers and craziness of our governments.. Please, also, won’t you join me in adding your name to the White House petition at http://1.usa.gov/1R9A4cM

It’s looking like the only path forward is going to be companies purposely designing storage systems that lock them out of being able to access customer data.
Perhaps, in a roundabout way, this is a good thing.